{"id":423871,"date":"2025-12-04T10:15:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423871\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:15:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:15:27","slug":"safety-volunteer-charged-in-fatal-shooting-at-utah-no-kings-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/423871\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety volunteer charged in fatal shooting at Utah ‘No Kings’ protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

A safety volunteer accused of fatally shooting<\/a> a man taking part in a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest last June in Salt Lake City while firing at another man he believed to be a potential mass shooter has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Matthew Alder allegedly fired three shots \u2014 one hitting a man who had been seen assembling an AR-15 rifle near the crowd and a third inadvertently killing the rally participant, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo<\/a>, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. <\/p>\n

While Alder had a right to use lethal force to stop a perceived threat and a right to carry a gun under Utah law, his third shot, fired over people\u2019s heads at a large gathering, was reckless and constituted a crime, Gill said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case our argument is that the third bullet was reckless and, if it is reckless, it is manslaughter,\u201d Gill said at a news conference. He noted that another safety volunteer with Alder did not think it was safe to open fire at the time because the man with the rifle was moving toward the crowd. <\/p>\n

An email and a telephone message left for Alder\u2019s lawyer, Phil Wormdahl, seeking comment were not immediately returned. <\/p>\n

Ah Loo, known as Afa, was a successful fashion designer and former \u201cProject Runway\u201d contestant who devoted his life to celebrating artists from the Pacific Islands. <\/p>\n

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His widow, Laura Ah Loo, who has demanded accountability<\/a> for her husband\u2019s death, said Gill\u2019s decision to charge Alder was \u201cmoral and just.\u201d Fighting back tears, she described her husband as \u201can incredible father, advocate, creative and champion for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grief of losing him has been profound and overwhelming,\u201d Ah Loo said. <\/p>\n

Utah is an open-carry state, meaning people who can legally own a firearm are generally allowed to carry it on a public street.<\/p>\n

The man who was seen assembling the rifle, Arturo Roberto Gamboa, was initially arrested on suspicion of murder and accused of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo\u2019s death, police said at the time. <\/p>\n

Gill said Gamboa would not be charged. In a letter explaining the decision, prosecutors noted there was not enough evidence to show Gamboa had broken any law even though his actions could \u201creasonably be perceived as alarming and irresponsible.\u201d <\/p>\n

A telephone message left for Gamboa\u2019s lawyer was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n

The lawyer, Greg Skordas, has previously said Gamboa was walking with the rifle unloaded pointed at the ground before he was shot. Skordas has said he does not believe that Gamboa heard anyone tell him to drop the weapon. <\/p>\n

Alder told investigators that he fired at Gamboa after Gamboa began moving toward the crowd and did not respond when he yelled at the man to stop, according to Alder\u2019s charging document. He told detectives that Gamboa\u2019s behavior \u201cscared the hell out of me,\u201d the document said. <\/p>\n

The \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests<\/a> were nationwide demonstrations in the U.S. earlier this year that opposed the administration of President Donald Trump, citing perceived authoritarian and anti-democratic actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A safety volunteer accused of fatally shooting a man taking part in a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest last June…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":423872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[4227,197685,4219,69,57,4223,4222,197687,181121,197686,50,197688,402,3677,61,67,132,68,436,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-423871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-arthur-folasa-ah-loo","10":"tag-arturo-roberto-gamboa","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-greg-skordas","15":"tag-gun-violence","16":"tag-laura-ah-loo","17":"tag-local-news-for-apple","18":"tag-matthew-alder","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-phil-wormdahl","21":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","22":"tag-shootings","23":"tag-u-s-news","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-ut-state-wire","28":"tag-utah"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115660778902968494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}